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No. 623,032." Pam-md Apr. u, |899.

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HAT.. (Application illd Dec. 17, 189B (N0 Model.)

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' a sectional side elevation of Fig. l.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

JAMES PENNY, OF NEW YORK, `N. Y..

HAT.

sPEeIFIcATIoN farming part of Letters Patent No. 623,032, dated April 1 1, 1899.

Application Yfiled December 17, 1898. Serial No. 699,567. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, JAMES W. PENNY, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, (Pelham,) in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Hats or Head-Gears, of which the following is aspecilcation.

This invention relates to hats, bonnets,and the like, of straw or other suitable material, and by means of thispinvention the hat can be made durable or secure against breaking and to retain or regain its desired shape, 'as set forth in the following specification and claim and -illustrated in the annexed drawings, in which- Figure l is a plan- View of a hat. Fig. 2 is Fig. 3 is a detail view of a braid. Fig. 4 is an edge view of Fig. 3.

The manufacture of hats from plaits or braids l is well known, an end of the plait being laid or placed in the center and the plait laid in spiral form. The braid, as shown, is lapped. Such braid is provided with Wire or stittening 2, secured to the braid at a distance from or between the edges, as seen in Fig. 3. As the various stretches or coils of braid are lapped over one another, a stretch or coil of wire extendsalong each lap. This wire being of suitable soft or springy kind will make the hat flexible and also cause the same to retain its shape. Should the wearer formed of straw or might be replaced by strips of felt or other suitable material. Such straw or material when left unsized or unstarched will be iiexible or in suitable condition to follow the wire as the latter bends and springs back to shape.

The wire 2 can be concealed or hidden by the braid, if desired, or left exposed to view for the sake of appearance or for other reasons, as thought desirable. When the wire is placed on the under side o f the braid or madel to come betweenor under the laps, such wire can be concealed. Y a

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

As an improved article of manufacture, a hat-composed of lapped braid having a rectilinear wire secured thereto at a distance from the edges of the braid and extended continuously along and between the parts of each lap, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

. JAB/IES W. PENNY.

Witnesses: l

W. C. HAUEF, E. F. KASTENHUBER. 

